Review of The Orphanage (2007) by Alan P — 16 Jan 2011

A subtle ghost story that captured my attention with severl unsettling moments. I did not know what to expect asi was caught off guard several times and what I expected unfolding events to be did not go as I had expected. For me the orphanage is a good ghost story. Did it break the plane for me as a great one? No. I loved how no special effects were used to give the effect of a ghost. I truly believed in the ghost story. The story is deep and is set up in stages throughout the story and it never loses pace.

The amount of realism for me was impressive. The use of sound effects and music was enough to raise my interest and anticipation for the unknown. Elements of horror and drama blended beautifully in this film and at a time when I lost faith in so many horror movies, the orphanage rekindled something with me. It got me into the movie without special effects and drew me in as the orginal movie 'the changeling' did.

This movie is more than a haunting and it took us back to a time when storytelling and specifically, telling ghost stories was a past-time. Many sequences in the movie had me startled, jumping and anticipating an entity only to have a door shut suddenly. Orphanage was a breath of fresh air for me after watching 4 CGI ghost movies that did not live up to par for me. Movies for me are the entertainment value. I wanted to be entertained, challeneged and taken from my world into another and I want to believe in a story. Orphange did that for me. At times in this movie during the storytelling it is very sad but it got me emotionally involved in the story. I rented 'Orphanage' from Redbox and it was worth my $1. I give the movie 8 out of 10 popcorns.